The University Grant Commission (UGC) has asked 12 institutions to get the status of a university to continue offering online and distance learning courses from 2018.

According to a notification issued on Tuesday called “UGC (open and distance learning) regulations 2017, (first amendment)”, the standalone institutions can offer courses till 2017-18 the way they have been. However, thereafter, they have to get affiliated to a university, or get the status of a deemed university to continue offering the courses. If they fail to comply, the commission will not give any approval to the courses being offered by the standalone institutions.

Recently, UGC had issued a regulation under which only universities can offer distance education courses to students in India. This means that going forward, no standalone institution will be able to offer any distance learning courses to students.

Many institutes in the country, especially B-schools, have been offering diploma courses through distance learning mode.